AUTOMATIC HIGHWAYS

I think the innovation will be not in cars themselves but in roads. Main Highways will run and "take in" cars at different stations, where cars will also go out of those main roads. Of course, cars must be adapted to this change by BMW thoughtful engineers!

Let go of the wheel

The best innovation would be self-driving cars. Imagine the reduction in accidents due to human errors such as tiredness, drunk driving and speeding.
Drivers' licenses could become redundant since the car would do the driving for us, making transportation available to a wider population, such as people with physical handicaps.

Wireless hitch hiking

Driving long distance or even everyday "suburb to city center" will be made effortless. Cars will communicate wireless, you just get on the road, select car, truck or bus with the same destination as yours and your car will follow it autonomously, allowing you to watch movies, read or just relax.

The 250 mpg Sports Car

As there is no proposition for providing cheap, plentiful energy forever, mass market cars need to become much more efficient. The XL1 prototype already demonstrates the benefits of low resistance tyres, lower weight, brake energy recovery, low frontal area and better aerodynamics. The challenge is the price.

Bye Bye Combustion Engines

The combustion engine will soon be replaced with a more novel form of energy generation such as hydrogen powered cars. Using solar energy to break the hydrogen bonds unnecessary, generating energy cleanly as a byproduct, the days of platinum catalysts and carbon emissions will be over. Bye bye combustion engines.

Smart phones, electric cars, and grid stability

The confluence of smart phones, electric cars and renewable energy will usher in a new era. Your charging point continuously monitors the electricity pool price and texts you when your threshold price is met, allowing you the option of selling the energy stored in your car at a high price during peak demand times.

Who needs a chauffeur?

Having defrosted itself, John's car eased out of its parking space. Stopping by the house, the car door opened and John settled into the back. "To the office, no rush today".
Arriving downtown, John said "see you back here at five. And please, get yourself cleaned!"

Hybrids

Combine the advantages of electrically powered vehicles with the existing fuel infrastructure to avoid the inevitable 60%+ losses incurred getting energy from the fuel at the power station into the batteries. Fit electric cars with efficient (theoretically up to 100%) fuel cells that can use normal hydrocarbon fuels.

Pods and cars

In the city, we might not have cars, but autonomous electric 'pods' that come when called, drop us off, then go off to the next person. For longer journeys, people may still own their large cars, but they'd be electric and network with nearby vehicles for fast, safe progress.

Electric Super-highway

The best innovation in technology will involve the roads upon which BMW's cars of the future drive. Roads topped in textured solar panels will collect and distribute electricity to roadside charging points and to the houses, towns and cities that these highways and byways connect. Goodbye exhaust emissions. Hello super-highway.

Taxi Service

Driver less electric taxi network with mobile apps to summon them. Usage of the taxi goes up (no breaks, no parking, no scenic routes or getting lost!) which drives the cost down and no in cab driver space implies smaller taxis or more passengers thus more efficient.

Cars of the future

With car ownership increasing, and roads becoming more jammed, the logical extension is to add flight. Quiet, efficient flight. Vertical stacking of lanes over roads delineated by speed. Junctions would vertically separate out traffic that when turning left or right would change height and direction to merge into traffic in that direction, post the junction, traffic heights would return to normal.